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NASA chief scientist weighs in
Americans are "under siege" from disinformation designed to confuse the public about the threat of climate change, Nasa's former chief scientist has said.
Speaking to the Guardian, Ellen Stofan, who left the US space agency in December, said that a constant barrage of half-truths had left many Americans oblivious to the potentially dire consequences of continued carbon emissions, despite the science being unequivocal.
"We are under siege by fake information that's being put forward by people who have a profit motive," she said, citing oil and coal companies as culprits. "Fake news is so harmful because once people take on a concept it's very hard to dislodge it."
During the past six months, the US science community has woken up to this threat, according to Stofan, and responded by ratcheting up efforts to communicate with the public at the grassroots level as well as in the mainstream press.
"The harder part is this active disinformation campaign," she said before her appearance at Cheltenham Science Festival this week. "I'm always wondering if these people honestly believe the nonsense they put forward. When they say 'It could be volcanoes' or 'the climate always changes'... to obfuscate and to confuse people, it frankly makes me angry."
Stofan added that while "fake news" is frequently characterised as a problem in the right-leaning media, she saw evidence of an "erosion of people's ability to scrutinise information" across the political spectrum. "All of us have a responsibility," she said. "There's this attitude of 'I read it on the internet therefore it must be true'."
No editorial comment included.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @07:07PM (7 children)
Try again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @08:37PM (6 children)
Sorry, bub. When you say that poor peoples' vote shouldn't count, you are making precisely that argument, with the full expectation that you will be on the 'right' side of the line. So, really, you can bugger off!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @09:05PM (5 children)
Your replies are a case in point on the matter of people being unable to scrutinize info!
Nobody said anything about who should be allowed to vote; rather, the other AC is simply pointing out the nature of decision-making—why democratic decision-making is ridiculous, and why capitalistic decision-making is inherently more sophisticated, fine-grained, expressive, and likely to be profitable for society at large.
Hint: The other AC puts "vote" in quotes for a reason; it doesn't have anything to do with attaching wealth to the voting within the current democratic system. Get it, yet?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:04PM (1 child)
Is you. There aren't 2 ACs in agreement with each other, there's merely one who likes to support his arguments by pretending to be someone else supporting his arguments.
So sad.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:09PM
Whether or not that AC is the same person, the argument should stand on its own—it doesn't matter how many people agree or disagree with it.
More to the point, though, it's difficult to identify various comments quickly when everyone is named "AC", so I see no problem in treating separate comments as separate people.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:04PM
Read it yourself: That is why democracy is a terrible idea; it gives equal voices to unequal people.
He wants the rich to have more say. Totally bogus...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:32PM
The sheer amount of cluelessness with "capitalist democracy" is staggering.
(Score: 1) by redneckmother on Monday June 12 2017, @05:51PM
s/society at large/a handful of powerful, rich individuals/
That's not to say the a simple democracy is necessarily good:
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb debating on what to eat."
That's why the rule of law is important.
Mas cerveza por favor.